Red raw hands - kids hand washing

[MummyNeedsWineNow]

My DC are v v lucky to be going to school as DH and I are both key workers. School r being very careful to make sure the children are washing hands regularly. However DSs hands a now really really red and sore as a result and I'm worried it's only going to get worse.

Anyone else?

Yes, mine are at home but are hand washing a lot. I have bought perfume free soap, there is actually a lot of this in the shop, all the perfumed brands have sold out.

This has happened when our dcs were at school. The school allowed me to send our own soap in. I also moisturised hands morning, home time and bedtime.

I use childs farm cream for my children to use at bedtime its the baby one my children have had the same problem so have i so i use it too.

My hands are awful, turns out I'm allergic to something in the hand sanitiser. My skin is reallt rashy and broken.

Ah my DD’s hands got like that (were washing every 45min at school allegedly). Not at school now. My Sil is a hair dresser and says coconut oil (cooking grade) is all that works

I read that it's also important to moisturise your hands really well as obviously cracked skin is not a great protection against the virus... So get a big tub of a good hand moisturiser for oyu and kids and make them use it after they wash their hands.

I’ve been putting my hand cream on my little dc hands before bed

I have just bought some Gloves in a Bottle cream for my dds, for daytime. Weleda weather protection cream , in the baby range, works wonders left on overnight on sore ,chapped skin ( great for cheeks in Winter) . It is thick and so too sticky for hands in the day.

Thanks for the tips :)

Been putting sudocream or similar on my son (5) at bedtime. It cleared up the redness quickly but the dryness took a few more days.

THis has happened to me so not just children, I thought I was allergic or something to the soap I was using but speaking to others a lot have had the same problem

Be careful with sudocrem, it is designed to dry out skin (eg nappy rash, acne, etc). Vaseline might be better.

Neutrogena handcream at bedtime so on overnight has helped DS's hands.

Good old olive oil. Or sunflower oil. At night, massaged in. That'll fix it!

My ds’s has the same problem when they were in school. Vaseline on hands at night has really helped, skin back to normal now.

The paper towels at DDs school are blue and you could probably make origami out of them, they are so stiff.

The key is to get them to pat them dry, practice at home with them.

The rubbing of the paper towel across their soft skin is like a cheese grater.

Mine are aged and are probably a bit knackered!

If they are old enough to understand make sure they are rinsing all the soap off their hands. They may be sensitive to SLS in the soap but if well rinsed to remove it then it should help.
Try not to use petroleum based moisturiser, olive oil or coco butter based creams are better. Aveeno Dermexa is a good hand moisturiser which helps with itching. It is oat based.

When I’m working I wash my hands every ten minutes so have tried lots of creams. The Aveena range is kindest.

This happened to my DD, her hands were so sore. I taught her to pay her hands dry, gave her cocoa butter based hand cream to use after hand washing and put cream and gloves on overnight.

My DS has been getting very dry skin on the backs of his hands. Lip balm rubbed in at night is helping but I think it's mainly that he washes them thoroughly but doesn't dry the backs at all.

Yeah my dd's were just awful from before schools closed and it's only stopped when we've told her to stop using soap altogether and with me going into her at night and coating her hands in Epaderm. She's been washing her hands with Epaderm instead of soap for a week. Although today now her hands are better I've got her using Dove bar soap. I had the same hands from school soap as a kid, and Dove cured mine.

Don't have water too hot, it is very drying and cold or warm water is fine. Use the gentlest soap possible, avoid drying anti bac ones. Obviously those two things can be hard out of the home where some taps seem stuck on scalding and soap is provided. Don't use too much friction on backs of hands, they are usually less dirty than palms or fingertips but get much drier. Pat dry. Use moisturisers after washing and inc something heavier duty overnight.